


Treats as Tricks

by denpring, slotumn



Series: Lysiclaude Week Stories with Illustrations [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Art, Digital Art, During Timeskip (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), F/M, Fluff, Illustrations, Letters, LysiClaude Week, Politics, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24925594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denpring/pseuds/denpring, https://archiveofourown.org/users/slotumn/pseuds/slotumn
Summary: [Contains illustration]Duke Riegan,The County of Ordelia sends its regards and support to you and the Leicester Common Armory.We hope that you will be able to make good use of the supplies in these tumultuous times.May the camaraderie and friendship of the Alliance last eternal.With utmost respect,House OrdeliaA.K.A. Lysithea sends letters (and some sweets) to the newly appointed Duke Riegan. (Lysiclaude week, Day 1: Duty/Titles, Sweets)
Relationships: Lysithea von Ordelia/Claude von Riegan
Series: Lysiclaude Week Stories with Illustrations [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803874
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: LysiClaude Week 2020, Slotumn Portfolio





	Treats as Tricks

**Author's Note:**

> Writer note: Haha shit here we go.
> 
> Artist note: Oh god I'm going to have to churn out six more of these. Also as you can tell I am trying as hard as I can to not draw these two in their canon outfits because the details are difficult.

_Dear Duke Riegan,_

"Argh!"

Lysithea crumpled the nearly-empty paper and dunked it into the trash can, at a loss for words out loud as well as on paper.

Which was quite vexing, since it was _Claude_ she was writing to.

Claude, the boy who never ran out of ways to tease and mess with her, always scheming up some ridiculous (and effective) scheme or the other, getting lectured by Seteth for sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

Claude, Duke of Riegan, set to lead his first Roundtable meeting as leader of the Leicester Alliance this month.

With a sigh, she buried her face into her hands then rubbed her temples.

Father would have all his actions scrutinized under a magnifying glass by the Empire, but as the scion, she got a little more leeway. It was essential that she take full advantage of that and subtly nudge the anti-Empire faction into being not too harsh on Ordelia.

Of course Claude would understand why her family had no option but to take the pro-Empire faction-- but this was politics. He would need a political justification to be lenient on them, and her job was to provide those.

So she had gone out and bargained for rare shields and rings from collectors across Ordelia, and arranged them to arrive at Derdriu alongside her father, to be added to the shared armory next to the capitol building. Nobody actually used anything in that armory, of course, because most lords had far better military forces and supplies back in their own territories-- but it was the gesture that counted. Showing that despite everything, they were still members of the Alliance, and would (hopefully) continue to be so in the foreseeable future.

She even made pastries to be delivered to Claude-- Duke Riegan-- to make the case extra convincing (and not because she wanted to impress him with her baking skills or anything). Angel cakes, mince pies, cobblers, malt loaves, currant flat cakes, and Ordelia snaps were all packed up in tin containers with her family emblem carved into it, sealed with magic so that they wouldn't spoil on the way.

The only thing left was writing a nice, polite letter as a finishing touch to all the formalities.

"..."

Problem was, she had a hard time keeping things formal whenever his face popped into her head-- the familiar mischievous grin, with the calculating glint underneath that only fully came into view after the Battle of Garreg Mach, when Professor disappeared.

Imagining that expression made her want to go off on an uncharacteristic tangent, asking how Claude, not Duke Riegan, was doing; what sort of books he read, whether the food in Derdriu was nice even during wartime, how much sleep he was getting.

If he ever thought of her.

"Dammit..."

Lysithea stood up and stepped away from the desk.

Perhaps taking a break and cooling her head off (like he always suggested) would help, she thought, heading downstairs towards the kitchen, where she had reserved some of the same sweets that were to be sent to him for her own consumption.

\---

_Duke Riegan,_

_The County of Ordelia sends its regards and support to you and the Leicester Common Armory._

_We hope that you will be able to make good use of the supplies in these tumultuous times._

_May the camaraderie and friendship of the Alliance last eternal._

_With utmost respect,_

_House Ordelia_

\---

"Huh..."

Claude read over the piece of paper one, two, three times.

The curt, formal wording and the neat handwriting was definitely Lysithea's.

She was, no doubt, taking on a large chunk of governing tasks while her father was away-- which must be quite often these days, considering both the Empire and Count Gloucester were awfully eager to push around the weak territory for their own gains, using them as a proxy and a shield to avoid any serious accusations or repercussions.

And it's not that he wanted to be too harsh towards the already-struggling territory, but letting such blatant pro-Empire activities go unchecked would set a bad precedent. Not to mention, it would piss off Margrave Edmund, Holst, Judith, and other anti-Empire lords.

Specifically, they would get pissed at _him_ , because he was now Duke Riegan, leader of the Leicester Alliance, not-head of the anti-Empire faction, et cetera cetera.

 _I miss Garreg Mach_ , came an absent-minded thought, _and I miss--_

"Nope, nope, not now," he uttered, shaking his head and lightly slapping the sides of his face.

Sitting there and wallowing in memories didn't do anything for his own goals, or for Lysithea, who went out of her way to provide this nice little excuse for leniency.

He would convince the anti-Empire faction to focus on keeping the real threats in check instead of the easy targets, and perhaps subtly extend a hand towards other smaller houses who felt they had no choice but to bend to the Empire. Ordelia would be slightly less swamped by all this bullshit, and Lysithea would have slightly more time to study and spend time with her family and--

"...Right."

\--indulge in sweets, like the ones that were addressed to him, personally.

Soon after he opened the purple and gold tin box, taking extra care to not leave any dents or scratches, a smile crept up his lips, then all the way to his eyes.

\---

_Dear Claude,_

_I hope you have been well._

_You must be awfully busy these days, with succeeding the title as Duke Riegan and preparing for the Roundtable meetings. But please remember that having so much on your plate is all the more reason to take care and not exhaust yourself, as you always used to tell me._

_And should you ever feel tired, try eating these pastries and cookies, preferably with a nice fruit blend. I know you probably want to tease me for having such a childish taste, or something along those lines, but trust me when I say that there is absolutely nothing better for refreshing your energy._

_Oh, and depending on how things go in our territory, I may have the opportunity to visit Derdriu this fall. If we end up running into each other, please don't do anything embarrassing in front of my parents._

_Yours truly_

_Lysithea_

_P.S.: Are there any specific places in Derdriu I should check out while I'm there? And don't say "Riegan estate."_

_P.P.S.: Yes, I'm asking for recommendations on sweets shops and bakeries._

**Author's Note:**

> [LysiClaude week twitter](https://twitter.com/LysiClaudeWeek?s=20)   
>    
>  [Writer twitter](https://twitter.com/slotumn?s=09)   
>    
>  [Artist twitter](https://twitter.com/denpring?s=09)   
> 


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